Ready, one, two SING! (On Musicals)

This whole Glee phenomenon isn't all that surprising, if you ask me. Following the massive, MASSIVE success of the High School Musical movies which showed us that randomly breaking out into elaborate production numbers during seemingly mundane parts of day is a moneymaker , it became pretty obvious that a full television series about singing kids wouldn't be far behind.

And it's not a bad show, that Glee. The "kids" are great talents for sure. Lea Michele (Rachel) and Chris Colfer (Kurt) are particularly entertaining, and I can't wait for them to feature more of Naya Rivera and Heather Morris (Santana and Brittany) for the same reasons Dorothy Snarker of lifestyle website AfterEllen.com is also tuned in.

BUT if you had to ask me what my favorite musical is, I'd have to give that prize to Woody Allen's masterpiece, Everyone Says I Love You. I spoken about this film to everyone who would listen. This movie, in case you were wondering, showed in Manila in 1996, opening with nary a word from marketing types which meant that there were about ten people in the cinema including my mom and myself.

I was about twelve when I saw this and up until that point, I'd only seen the big musicals like the Sound of Music, The King and I, and the Disney cartoons. And of course, as you know those films were dated and in Technicolor (TM), so when I saw the trailer for Everyone Says I Love You before the screening of Conspiracy Theory (starring Julia Roberts, too, who seemed to be in every movie showing that year, and Mel Gibson) where everyone lived in the NOW and were singing, boyohboy, I was ecstatic. A musical for MY time. I knew I just had to watch it. So I did and I enjoyed it.

The story revolves around this very wealthy extended family, the Berlins (Woody Allen and his daughter played by Natasha Lyonne) and the Dandridges (Alan Alda married his best friend Woody Allen's ex, Goldie Hawn bringing with him two kids of his own and two other children from the marriage) who lives in New York City. It's basically about the family members' attempts at finding and keeping love.

Because the family is moneyed, they are able to spend parts of the year in NYC and the other parts in Paris or Venice and believe me, the film doesn't waste any shots of the most beautiful parts of those cities. From the gorgeous fall scenes in NYC and Upstate NY to the breathtaking Venetian Canals, and of course, Paris for New Years', you're probably going to fall in love just watching their stage.

But the best parts are the production numbers. They range from very madcap and silly like the Makin' Whoopee episode in the hospital after Drew Barrymore swallows her engagement ring (dancing emergency ward victims), sweet like the Just You, Just Me sequence (Edward Norton singing to Drew Barrymore), and precious such as the Halloween scene with little kids singing for their treats.

I love it because while the characters randomly burst into song, these actors aren't trained singers. So you hear a little bit of hesitance, a little warble. Imagine someone just singing in the middle of the street. That sort. Although of course, they're accompanied by actual singers so it's not all caterwauling but it's all campy fun. It didn't even matter if the songs weren't Allen's compositions, they were well-loved classics and he made them fit.

And of course I should mention that Woody Allen's characters are so over-the-top and fun, even his usual neurotic character is adorable.

I'm probably not explaining this very well but I guess this clip will do it :

Such is my love for this movie that I  was inspired to write my own musical three years later as a high school sophomore for a street play in my Literature class. It wasn't any good, not anywhere near Everyone Says I Love You, for sure. But it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless.